Will Net Supports to Solar Panels Impact My Warranty?
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This is a frequent topic of discussion.
Specifically, will drilling holes in the frame of the solar panels be used by the solar module manufacturer as reason not to honor the performance warranty? Note, this warranty comes from the manufacturer, not your installer.
What are the odds: According to www.energysage.com, the failure rate of solar panels is less than 0.05%. Thant means 1 out of 2000 modules. Only if you are one of the very small percentage of those that experience a failure could the manufacturer call into question if the support brackets caused the problem.
Chances are much higher that an endangered golf course home will incur damage by golf balls. If you have 20 solar panels, the chance of a single panel breakage could be 1 in 20. Remember, a panel broken by a golf ball has No Warranty. This is a 100x greater risk of damage by golf balls.
Installing SolarNets may actually preserve your solar panel warranty by preventing non-warranty damage from golf balls.
The chances are very small you will ever experience a problem.
The most common assumption is that modifications of solar panels is prohibited.
However, there is a decades long practice of drilling holes in solar modules for a variety of reasons, most being well understood by module manufacturers. Holes were commonly drilled for attachment of ground lugs and fastening to support rails.
The bottom line, as supplied by a recent discussion with REC Solar (George), was as follows:
The warranty is not impacted by holes so long as the following considerations are guarded against:
- The weight bearing capacity of the solar module cannot be impacted.
- The glass is not impacted by the holes.
- The lamination is not impacted by the holes.
HighTec Solar (Jesse): Attaching solarnet support to the frame is absolutely not a concern; warranty should not be impacted. (www.hightecsolar.com)
The SolarNets Supports self-drilling screw holes are placed such that solar panels of 30mm thickness or greater, will not be negatively impacted by the bracket installations.
In the end, homeowners must decide if they more fear golf ball damage today, versus hypothetical rejection in the future should a manufacturing defect emerge.